Until Eternity
by immortalnite666
Summary: It had been so long. A century, but it had felt like a millennium.


A/N: setting is victorian england and new orleans, based off the song Until Eternity by Blackbriar

(br)

Jean laughed in his ear, pulling him along the dirty, crowded streets. "Loosen up, Jaeger, it'll be fun."

"Whatever you say, Kirstein." Eren sighed. "Could I get out of this by mentioning how illegal this is?"

Jean gave a very horse-like snort. "Absolutely not. Your argument might be effective if it weren't for the attempt at homebrewed absinthe last month."

Eren shrugged. "It wasn't half bad."

"No, but I'd like to get my hands on some proper alcohol anyway."

Eren ran his hands down the front of his suit jacket. "And I have to get dressed up for that?"

"Oui."

Eren sighed again. "So, basically, I'm out here in stuffy clothes because you wanted to get alcohol and a girl?"

Jean shot him a grin "Precisely! Don't worry though, I'm not expecting you to be any good at being a wingman. I can handle the ladies just fine on my own."

"I'm sure." Eren threw him a look, a certain memorable rejection at a previous speakeasy coming to mind. The details were a bit marred by drinks, but Eren remembered the basics of what happened. A pretty flapper, Jean's face and aforementioned pretty flapper's fist.

"Listen, you're not any good with girls, don't judge me."

"Ah, mon petit cheval, I'm not good with girls for a very different reason." Eren winked at his friend, who pretended to make disgusted faces.

"You're so mean to me, Eren." Jean threw his hand across his forehead dramatically. "I take you into my family, bring you across the sea, find illegal bars for you to meet men, and this is how you repay me. Horse jokes and being a shitty wingman."

"It was your dad that adopted me, and him that gave us money to come to America, also you just said I didn't have to play your wingman!" Eren huffed.

Jean stopped suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk, gesturing grandly to what appeared to be an innocent jazz lounge. "I'll make you a deal, Eren. Once we get inside, if you can get someone before I do, you never have to wingman for me again."

Rolling his eyes, Eren shouldered one of the doors open and held it for Jean to walk through. "You'll make me wingman anyway, regardless."

"Probably." Jean smiled and Eren followed him inside.

The totally legal jazz lounge part of the building was as quaint as it had looked from the outside, and far cleaner. The walls were cushioned with noise blocking fabric, but they weren't stained from smoke like so many other places. There was a bar along the back wall, serving sodas and lemonade and other perfectly innocent and legal drinks. In one of the corners, a small jazz trio played, just an alto sax, piano and upright bass. There was no trumpet, and the songs were all quiet and soft, lending the place a relaxed, sleepy atmosphere.

Eren barely had time to appreciate the soothing murmur of voices and music before Jean was dragging him along as he made a beeline for the bar. He leant over the counter as a young man with a shaved head approached.

"Can I get some of the Captain's?" Jean asked. Apparently this was the password, because the boy nodded.

"Sure, I think we might have a few bottles downstairs. Follow me." He slipped out from behind the counter and they followed him down a set of stairs into a small basement area. Shouldering aside a pile of boxes, he revealed a simple door, small and compact. Jean raised an eyebrow and the boy nodded.

"Leave by the back door, we block this one after people enter. One tap on the bell means to be silent, two taps means to flee. Got it?"

Jean grinned. "Got it."

He opened the door, slipping inside and Eren followed right after him,the wave of noise hitting him harder than it had upstairs. The door shut behind them and Eren dropped his shoulders. This was definitely a speakeasy.

They made their way down the small stairwell as it opened up into the main room. Booths lined the two walls of the place and a real bar, fully stocked with all the illegal goodies that everyone sought out, took up the back corner, right next to the door out. There was a jazz band down here too, a quintet with an added trumpet and tenor sax. The lights were dim and faintly blue, the floor filled with dark bodies and flashes of pale skin, covered in a sheen of sweat and alcohol. The scent was pervasive, but not overpowering and sweeter than other places Eren had been.

"Alright, Kirstein. Girls or liquor first?" Eren turned to Jean, resigning himself to a night of watching his friend's antics.

"Pfft. Like you even have to ask."

They wove their way through the dance floor, back to the bar. There were two people tending the small counter, a dark haired man with his back to the crowd and a cheerful looking woman with glasses and the usual short bob haircut. The man turned as they approached to put away the glasses he had been cleaning and Eren snagged Jean's arm.

"Hold up."

"Hmm?"

"So if I can get a guy before you can get a girl, I don't have to wingman for you again, right?" Eren asked, cautiously.

Jean looked at him carefully. "Yeah. But I want to see some proof that he's interested."

"Of course." Eren smiled. "Let's go get our drinks."

With one more suspicious look, Jean turned back to the bar and leant his elbows on it.

"What will it be?" The dark haired man turned to face them, his silver eyes sliding over Jean to Eren and then back.

"Whatever you'd recommend." Jean smiled with the confidence of a regular.

"He makes a lovely Gin Rickey!" The other barista came over, done with her own customer.

"Great, I'll have that." Jean turned his smile on her, clearly intending to attempt to charm her. The man turned away as Jean began to flirt and Eren was too distracted by his friend's attempts at flirting to realise he had forgotten to order.

"So, Zoe," Jean started, squinting at the name on her nametag in the dim lighting.

"Hanji."

"What?"

"She goes by Hanji." The man returned, sliding two drinks across the counter to the pair of them.

"Oh." Jean took a sip of his drink to hide his embarrassment.

"Has there been a mistake? I haven't ordered a drink yet." Eren ignored his friend and locked eyes with the male barista. The man leant over the counter towards Eren, amusement in his eyes.

"Not at all, cherie. Someone ordered a drink for you." He paused. "It's called a Hanky-Panky. Gin, sweet vermouth and a bit of Fernet Branca. Very good, in my opinion."

"Mm." Eren took a sip, keeping his eyes on the man as he did. "It seems your opinion is one to be trusted. Might I ask why someone got me a drink?"

He shrugged. "I'm simply the messenger."

"Pass on a message to this mystery man for me?" Eren leant closer. "Ask him if he'd like to dance?"

The man's eyes sparkled with mischief. "I never said it was a man."

"Is that a no, then?" Eren took another sip of his drink, licking his lips as he brought the glass back to the table. He was vaguely aware of Jean's baffled face pointing at him in the periphery, but he ignored it.

"I wouldn't say that." The man slipped off his apron and hung it under the counter, coming around to stand beside Eren. He held out his hand, lips curved up at the edge.

"Sorry Jean, you're on your own tonight." Eren took his hand and followed him to the floor, his other hand finding the man's waist as they started to sway.

"Mind telling me your name, perhaps?" Eren smiled down at his dance partner. The man cocked his head and looked at Eren with the eyes of a storm.

"Names are dangerous things."

"In an illegal bar, probably fueled by an illegal gang running an illegal smuggling ring dealing in banned substances?" Eren leant closer so he was by the man's ear. "How dangerous could you be?"

It was all just banter, of course. He knew his name, as well as he knew his eyes and his voice and his hands and his body and every other part of him. But he enjoyed these games. The man smirked and leaned in too, his lips brushing Eren's ear.

"Come back to my place and I'll show you how dangerous I can be."

Eren turned his head and pulled back, letting his lips drag along the man's cheek. "I don't know, seems awfully irresponsible to run off with someone without knowing their name. I might not come back."

"Hmm. Sounds like that might be a problem."

"Indeed."

They stared at each other for a second, then Eren burst out into laughter. The sound of it was swallowed by the band, but his partner heard it and his mouth curved up into a rare smile.

"I missed you." The man let his head fall forward, onto Eren's chest.

"Me too. Levi." Eren buried his nose in Levi's hair, breathing him in. It had been so long. A century, but it had felt like a millennium.

(br)

A light waltz, smooth and calm filled the air and masked people twirled and turned across polished cream floors. The dance was formal only in name and their hidden faces freed the dancers as they spun from partner to partner, paying no more attention to whom they were with than they did to the servants scurrying to clean up plates.

Levi was wearing a deep blue mask, one side curved up over his face, the whole thing lined in a striking silver that made his eyes look sharp and predatory. His tailcoats flew behind him as he spun, switching whenever he saw a free arm, fleeting from person to person before a conversation could arise. Then the song changed and Levi found himself stuck.

The arms holding him were a man's, slender underneath a jacket. He looked up at the man's face a had to thank all gods that may have existed that his body knew the dance without his mind. The man's eyes… Levi didn't know how to describe them. Deep and green with some blue, sparkling like water under filtered sunlight and trees. His mask only enhanced it, gold and green twining vines that were so delicate and thin they appeared to simply rest against his features.

"Enjoying the ball?" His voice was soft as his lips looked and Levi could have sworn this thing in front of him was some sort of fae creature.

"I've been to better ones." At least he could still use that razor sharp wit of his. When confronted by something unknown, defaulting to snark and sarcasm was the best option.

"Ah, I'll have to try better, then." The man- just a boy really- smiled. "Can't have one of my guests leave unsatisfied."

One of his guests? Then he was?

"Lord Jaeger." Levi inclined his head slightly, the best greeting he could manage towards his host while caught in a dance. "I didn't recognise you."

"Please, call me Eren." He spun Levi suddenly, and Levi felt like his world was spinning in more than one ways. "And that's the point of a masquerade, isn't it? You're not supposed to recognise me."

Taking his hand off Levi's hip for a moment, he raised his finger to his lips in a "shh" gesture and winked.

"For someone so young, I must say, you are quite impressive." Levi steeled himself, slipping easily into the tone he saved for nobles and royalty, the polite falsified flattery and cunningly disguised criticisms that was the language of politics and lords.

The boy laughed, shaking his head. "It's the mask, really. I'm a mess without it. Gives me some confidence, you know?"

And the strange thing was, Levi thought he might. There was no trace of a lie, any coldness or omission in those clear eyes. This boy, young and innocent to the ways of the high lords, was telling Levi the truth, and somehow, he wasn't weakened by it.

The party began to trail off in the later hours of the morning, the herd of carriages in the front slowly thinning as sleepy and intoxicated ladies stumbled out on the equally unsteady arms of their gentlemen. Amazingly, Eren hadn't left Levi's side yet, saying farewells to some of the more important guests as they left and asking his servants to take care of the most intoxicated of the departures, but always coming right back.

It made Levi weirdly ecstatic and scared at the same time. What did Eren want? When the last few guests had trickled out, Eren and Levi still leaning together on a windowsill in the library, Levi turned to Eren.

"Is it time for me to leave as well?"

"If you want." Eren cocked his head. "You're welcome to stay here, however. You do live quite a way out."

Levi stilled. He knew where he lived? Then, did he know who he was? He'd never given the kid his name.

"There's only one carriage not gone, and it has the Ackerman crest on it." Eren offered cautiously, as if by way of apology.

"You knew who I was when we started dancing." He wasn't sure until the words fell from his mouth, but once they did, he knew them to be true. Eren Jaeger, this young, inexperienced lord, had managed to pick out Levi from all his guests, despite having never seen his face without a mask, and had seamlessly drawn him in. At once Levi understood how he had managed to survive the perilous waters of politics despite all seeming naivety.

Eren inclined his head. "I did. Sir Levi of House Ackerman."

"How."

"I had my servants make some inquiries for me. They're quite adept at not being seen." Eren took off his mask then, and Levi almost forgot his suspicion. He was younger than Levi had realised, as a hand ran through his hair to pull it down from slicked obedience into unruly waves. Young, earnest and yet somehow shrewd. But there was no sign of that shrewdness in his uncovered face. Smooth skin, tanned in a way that was almost shocking compared to the droves of milk white nobles Levi usually saw, himself included.

Eren set his mask down carelessly on a nearby bookshelf, sighing. "I didn't mean to be creepy about it, but I guess it kinda turned out that way. I admired you a lot, you know. You built up your house from nothing to be at the forefront of the stage."

"You're doing the same." Levi shrugged.

"Not really. My family already owned the land, I just put the castle there. You built everything, all from nothing."

The kid was in awe of him; that much was obvious. Levi knew political flattery, but this, this was simply the sleep-drunk rambles of a young boy. Levi sighed and closed his eyes. A god damn mystery, this beautiful boy was, and here he was staying at his house.

Eren lead him upstairs sometime after that, towards the bedrooms. He stopped outside a nondescript door a few feet to the left of a set of large, ornate oaken monstrosities that Levi assumed barred the way to Eren's bedroom.

"I'll be there if you want anything…?" Eren's voice was strangely hopeful.

"Thank you." It made Levi want to give him whatever it was he wanted, even if he didn't know what that was.

He was about to turn away when Eren's hands came up, suddenly, and his fingers were suddenly on Levi's face. He was frozen, caught again by those arms and those eyes. Eren's fingers were gentle in his hair as he deftly undid the knot in the ribbon that held Levi's mask to his face. Levi shut his eyes as the warm mask slipped from his face, feeling more vulnerable now than ever. When he opened his eyes, he froze.

When had Eren gotten that close? When had he started looking at him with that painfully fond gaze?

Eren's fingers were still on his face, but his mask was gone.

Eren was so close.

Levi's eyes slipped shut again and something warm and soft pressed against his lips. He opened his mouth slightly.

Falling. He was falling.

(br)

Eren didn't think as they slipped out the back door into an alley, breathless and flushed. He didn't think about Jean, he didn't think about his jacket that had been left under the counter. His thoughts were on other things, like Levi's empty apartment and Levi's mouth on his.

He certainly didn't think about guns.

Not until the muzzle of one found it's way in between his shoulder blades.

Eren froze, Levi registering the change in his partner a split second later.

"Hey boys." A gruff, unfamiliar voice accompanied the unyielding metal digging into Eren's back.

Eren couldn't see the man, but he could see the way Levi's eyes widened.

He never heard the shot, only felt the sudden heaviness of his shirt, wet with something red and sticky.

He didn't feel any pain of his own, but the anguish in Levi's eyes said it all as he dropped to the ground, the world going dark.

(br)

When Levi got in his own carriage the next morning, a delicate gold chain wrapped around his wrist, he felt strangely calm.

Eren wasn't, he made promises upon promises to visit, even taking it upon himself to get into the cabin, close the door and draw the blinds before kissing him with all of the enthusiasm and emotion that made up the young Lord Jaeger.

Levi had promptly booted him from the cabin afterwards, not without an invitation of open doors should the boy ever come to visit his own estate and the promise of plenty of letters.

And then he was off, carriage wheels rolling over the unworn cobblestones and on to the dirt road.

The Jaeger estate faded into the deep green forests and Levi soon found himself dozing lightly, images of twining golden vines and tanned skin drifting through his mind.

He was awoken abruptly when the carriage came to a rough stop, and the sound of a horse's scream. He reached for the door handle, but it was flung open just as his fingers touched it and he was roughly yanked from the seat.

A blow to the side of his head left him dizzy and disoriented as clumsy fingers groped at his neck, wrists, wherever metal sparkled. Eren's gift was torn from his wrist, pins ripped from his clothes and just as he was about to gain his bearings and try to defend himself, a sword pushed itself through him.

It might have just been a dream, but in those last few moments, he could have sworn he heard Eren's voice.

(br)

Deep green over browning pine leaves, low whispy shrubs and bushes, a worn and forgotten dirt path. The gravestone was worn with the centuries, the name nearly faded away. The land was old now, different. He was old now, different.

Bloody soil and wheel grooves, horse shit and rabbit traps had become a worn stone marker and a forsaken trail, berry bushes and chittering squirrels. Heeled shoes and waistcoats, deep blue masks and golden chains had turned to heeled boots and t-shirts, eyeliner and tattoos.

But his sorrow remained.

Levi didn't know why he was here, staring at his own gravestone, remembering.

Maybe, he thought idly, if I dig deep enough I can find Eren's chain.

He trailed his fingers across the dirt, a sad smile tugging at his lips. He wouldn't find it there, he knew that. His murderers would have taken most of it, and any fine chain link left over would have been swept away in the centuries of rain.

He stood up, a hand on a nearby tree for balance. It was surreal. Death lay before him, his death, yet here he stood. A cruel trick of life to play, but who was life playing the trick on? Death? God? Him?

Levi closed his eyes.

"Eren..."

It was almost a sob.

"Yes?"

Levi whipped around, body tensing. And there he was, suits and formal wear exchanged for a soft sweater and jeans.

He approached and Levi's hand shout up to his chest, stopping him hesitantly, as if waiting for him to pass through his hand.

Eren grabbed it, curling his own hand around it and pressing it to his chest. To his heartbeat.

"I'm here."

"For now." Levi fell into him.

"Third time's the charm, right?"

"Sure, brat."

(br)

A/N: Thanks for reading! I also have this posted on my ao3 account. If ya liked this and want to let me know or maybe even chat with me, either leave me a comment here or hit up either my tumblr at @moonlightinwater or my kik @immortalnite


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